Archive for August, 2010

Well, it is the eve of both of my kids headed to school all day. The first week had a few bumps, but nothing major. I think that Becca is realizing that the carefree days of summer are gone, and it’s time to get to work. Oh, and she’s not really all that happy about it. She’s been acting out a bit. She has a tv in her room that she watches for about a half an hour before bed every night.

She lost it until September 6th.

The television was the prize in a battle of wills between the two of us. A battle of wills? Guess what. I’m gonna win every. single. time. There was screaming, there was crying. In the middle of all of this she told me (in a very high pitched, loud voice) that she was going to call my mom and tell her how mean I was being to her.

So I dialed the number for her.

Grandma told her that maybe she should take a rest.

Score one for Mom (and Grandma).

She hated me for about an hour, but all is good now. The hate came back for a bit right before bed, but she’s decided not to move out.

God, I can’t WAIT until she’s a teenager.

(as I’m writing this…I just broke up a fight…and yelled for her to not stomp up the steps)

Anyway, I have a full week to myself, and it’s getting filled. Work tomorrow, get my hair done on Tuesday, take the dog to the vet on Wednesday. I’m thinking that Thursday might be a day to stay in my jammies extra long and read a book. Or watch a rated R movie. At 11:00 in the morning. Imagine that.

But it just hit me that, after that first week, I have to start school. It’s only two classes, and I’ll definitely have the time to do it. It’s all online. One of the classes is a programming class, which I’m looking forward to. It won’t really be like ‘work’ because I actually enjoy that kind of stuff. But the other class? English Comp 2. Blech. It’s the last class I need for my Associates Degree (it’s an associates degree in, well, general-I-couldn’t-make-up-my-mind-what-to-be-when-I-grow-up stuff). Now, I don’t really mind writing. But I like writing here…in that conversational tone. Official papers with footnotes and references? Papers in which I need to force an opinion on somebody. Ewwww, HATE IT! So guess what? I’m gonna come here to complain.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining about the kids being in school. But them? Well, I think the novelty is beginning to wear off. Just a bit. We’ve had four mornings, (three days completed) of school. Here’s what has happened so far:

Chloe has told me that, although she likes her teacher, she likes her pre-school teacher better. She decided she wants to go back to pre-school. I told her “sorry ’bout your luck.”

Becca has been on time out for fighting homework. On the first day of homework. The second day of homework went a little better, but she needs to get her focus back. Her brain is everywhere BUT her homework at homework time.

I got a call from the school nurse. Already. Becca has a bug bite gone wild. Long story short, she has a big , hot red mark around the bite. We noticed the bite over the weekend, but it didn’t “go wild” until Tuesday night. The nurse kept her in school, and we went to the pediatrician yesterday. Cellulitis (slight infection under the skin). So, she’s on Keflex (sp?).

Chloe is very impressed with breakfast at school. She won’t start whole days (and lunch at school) until next week. But I think she likes the feeling of eating out every day.

I got right back into schedule, and promptly fell asleep with Becca in bed last night. At 9:00. My body needs to adjust to that 7:00 am wake time after getting to sleep in most of the summer. My goal is to have ‘me’ time every night (well, some of those nights will be “me and Tony” time). Wasn’t that a goal last year? Well, I guess I can take naps this year because they will both be in school

Alrighty, gotta hit that “to-do” list before I get Chloe from the bus!

Well, everything is different now. first, I have to go over to the ‘about me’ page and change “almost 40″ to “40.” I had about a bazillion people wish me a happy birthday, and it felt great. What didn’t feel so great? The hangover I had for my entire 40th birthday. BUT, it was a lot of fun getting to that hangover. Lemmie give you the deets:

Friday, the 2oth, was the day that I was getting to celebrate. Now, I knew that we were having friends over that evening for a deck party. Tony told me to take the day to myself and be back by 6:00. Hey, I wasn’t going to fight him on that! I left the house, and headed to lunch. I had a nice, quiet, lunch at Friday’s. No kids bugging me, asking when the food was coming. I sat at the bar. It was fantastic.

Next, I headed to the bookstore. And I didn’t look at one children’s book. Again, awesome. Peaceful. Off to Kohl’s. I got a piece of art for my new, grown up walls and a new pair of shades. I poked around the new Kirkland’s that opened near me, and then off to Target. I bought all new make up. Lotions. Soaps. (OK, I did buy Play-Doh, but it was the one thing I forgot on the back to school list). Then I went gambling. Nothing like playing the slots And you know…even when you go to the Casino with somebody, you always end up splitting up.

So, when I was done I got in the car to go home. I blared some of my old CD’s (instead of listening to whatever movie the kids are watching). I listened to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Can’t listen to that with kids in the car.

I got home, gathered my new belongings, and headed up the steps. When I opened the door, bunches of friends were there IN COSTUME to greet me. They had planed a 70′s themed party. It was fantastic. All the kids had tye-dye on, one of our friends wore classic black roller skates, and Tony looked like this:

There was a ton of food, a fantastic tiramisu cake, a variety of adult beverages, and it was just a darn good time. Of course, I had TOO MUCH fun. We played drinking games that I hadn’t played in FOREVER!!! We played Drug Dealer, we played Flip Cup. It was all good. I fell asleep next to Tony, on the deck, about 1:30 in the morning. He dealt with the kids all night, and then tucked me into bed. I spent the entire morning of my ACTUAL birthday on the couch. But the kids did this for me:

I was a slug all day. About 5:00 I decided that I needed something greasy and spicy to make me feel better. I ate the most awesome Italian Hoagie with sausage, hot peppers, green peppers and mushrooms. It DID make me feel better. A little. I still felt it a bit on Sunday, but I made it through.

So, 40 years old. And what happens today? The kids went to school. My baby went to kindergarten. Which made me feel extra old. And YOU KNOW how much I’ve complained about the fighting. But I still cried after they got on the bus. Hmmph. Go figure.

Tony and I had a little discussion yesterday. And I needed to share the subject:

A mustache NEVER makes you look better.

All in all, Tony agreed. Beard and mustache? OK. Goatee? That’s just fine. But just a mustache? Please, please, don’t do it. Tony said that Burt Reynolds was an exception. I disagree. I mean, his mustache is iconic. It’s part of his persona. It’s his symbol. If you had a t-shirt with just a mustache on it, you might think of Burt Reynolds. But that doesn’t mean he looks BETTER with a mustache.

So, I’ve decided to lay out some rules about mustaches. The only reasons you should have a mustache without having a goatee, beard, or that funky mohawk thing on your chin:

You are an annoying French waiter

It’s Halloween

You work for a circus or a carnival

You are a seventies porn star

You are in a play or movie, or you have a job in a theme park where it is required as part of your costume

So guys, if you ever think “Maybe I should grow a mustache,” Don’t. Just don’t. You won’t look better. Really. Instead, think “Maybe I should grow a goatee.” Or something along those lines.

This has been a public service announcement. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

You might not know this, but my eyes are TERRIBLE. I mean, most people know that I wear contacts. But most have NO IDEA how terrible my eyes really are. For instance, when I go to bed, I can’t see the alarm clock. The alarm clock that is about twelve inches from my head.

I have some other issues, too. I have very high pressure in my eyes. In fact, I am just on the borderline of having glaucoma. Now, the doc said that I have ‘thick corneas,’ which means that my gold ol’ eyeballs can withstand that pressure. Everything else looks pretty hunky dory. I’m just telling my eyeballs that they need to hang in there for another 50 years or so.

A long time ago, when I was in my early twenties, I went to a different eye doctor. The pressure was high in my eyes back then, too. I’m pretty easy going when I’m at the doctor, and I joke around a lot. I guess that made him comfortable, and he asked me if I ever smoked. Not cigarettes. I told him that I had dabbled a bit, but I didn’t do that on a regular basis. (I WAS in my twenties, you know). I told this story to my current eye doctor. He laughed and said “Well, it would lower your pressure.”

Hmmmmm

So, I asked, “Are you saying that if I lived in California, I could get a prescription for medical marijuana?” He told me that yes, I probably could.

Isn’t that an interesting little tidbit to know? Don’t worry…I’m not packing up. I’m staying right here in the ‘Burgh. I’ll take Islay’s chipped ham, Primanti sandwiches and the Steelers over a big fat doobie any day.